mud. It is very high, and encloses an area of about 2 square miles. The inner wall is of stone, and encloses an area of about one square mile or a little less. Almost the only ruins are four beautifully carved porches in the centre of the inner enclosure. They are placed at the four cardinal points, and probably formed the entrances to the palace. Close by is a large hall, possibly used as a treasure house. It is massively built in the shape of an ark. There is also a small temple with some fine carvings, and this is nearly all that remains of this ancient city. The walls themselves show signs of having been frequently rebuilt because old carvings and basreliefs are built in detached pieces into some of the upper portions, thus showing that after the fort had been destroyed, the old débris was used to reconstruct the walls. There is a great deal of resemblance in some of the stone carvings with those of the temple at Hanamkonda about 3 miles distant. This temple, which is now fast falling into almost total ruin, is one of the most perfect specimens of Chalukyan architecture in Southern India. Massive pillars of black granite, polished like marble, are carved into all manner of shapes with masterly skill. The shrines are protected by screens of the most delicate stone tracery, and the whole temple, or what remains of it, is a perfect gem of its kind. The following description is taken from the "Historical and Descriptive Sketch of II.H. the Nizam's Dominions" (Syed Hoossain Belgrami and C. Willmott 1884):-"Hanamkonda contains some very interesting remains, and, according to local accounts, was the capital of the surrounding country before Warangal was founded. The 'thousand-pillared temple' was constructed by the last Hindoo dynasty, and an inscription on a pillar at the gateway mentions that Rudra Deva was the reigning sovereign in Saka 1084, or A.D. 1162. The temple was built in the Chalukyan style, but was never finished. It consists of three detached cells of very considerable dimensions, with a portico supported by between 240 and 300 pillars arranged in a varied and complicated pattern. Opposite the portico, but at some distance from it, is a star-shaped structure, containing a hall and four entrances, without any recess for idols, and supported on about 200 pillars. This forms a sort of mandapam, and was connected with the main temple by a massive pillared pavilion covering a huge bull of polished black basalt. The pavilion has fallen down, but the bull is tolerably intact, and is a splendid specimen of a monolith. * The arrangement of the pillars and the variety of spacing are in pleasing subordination to the general plan. The pillars of the mandapam are plain, while those of the temple are richly carved, but without being overdone, and it is only in pairs that they are of the same design. Some of the other details are of great beauty, especially the doorways to the recesses, the pierced slabs used for windows, and the very elegant open work by which the bracket shafts are attached to the pillars. The arrangement of three temples joined together is capable of giving a greater variety of effect, and of light and shade than the plainer forms, and the appearance of the whole is further improved by the terrace about 3 feet high and from ten to fifteen feet wide on which the temple stands. There is a short inscription in Sanskrit on one of the pillars, and another in old Telugu on one of the walls. A black polished stone pillar about five feet high covered with inscriptions in old Telugu stands near the gate to the east of the temple, and a very fine well is close by. A similar pillar full of inscriptions stands in front of the temple to Padmakshi, the titular goddess of the Kakatya dynasty." The country round Warangal is at present very thinly populated, the scale being about 80 to the square mile. It * Since this was written, however, this beautiful bull has been greatly injured by the fall of massive stones. It is cracked in many places and unless steps are shortly taken will probably be totally destroyed. must, however, at one time have been not only thickly populated but also highly cultivated. It is covered with the remains of old irrigation works which are everywhere to be found in the old Hindoo kingdoms, but which under Mahomedan rule were allowed to fall into ruin. About 25 miles from Warangal is one of the largest artificial lakes in India which is thus described in the same work:-"Pakhal-a lake situated close to a village of the same name in latitude 17° 57' 30" N. and 79° 59' 30" E. longitude. The lake or tank is some twelve miles square. It is enclosed on all sides, except the west, by ranges of low and densely-wooded hills. The western side is closed by a strongly constructed 'bund.' Tradition alleges the bund to have been constructed 1,600 years ago by Raja Khaldya, and a stone pillar, which stands on the bund, contains an illegible inscription, which is said to commemorate the name of the person who built it. The bund is about a mile in length. The average depth of the water in the lake is between thirty and forty feet. It is described as 'clear with a slightly bitterish taste, and considered by the inhabitants to be extremely unwholesome. It abounds with fish, some of a very large description and excellent flavour. It also contains otters and alligators.' The hills which surround the lake abound in game of every description, including a few wild elephants said to be the progeny of a pair of tame ones that escaped after the battle of Assaye. The Pakhal Lake has been made by throwing a bund across a river which has cut its way over a western outcrop of the Vindhyas, between two low headlands. Mr. King, of the Geological Survey of India, writing of the lake a few years since, said: It is a splendid sheet of water lying back in two arms on either side of a good big hill east-south-east of the bund, while from these are long bays reaching up behind low ridges of outcropping Vindhyas. On every side there is far-stretching jungle. Even below the bund for miles there |